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PersonalityCharacteristic patterns of emotional responses, thoughts, and behaviors that are relatively stable over time and across situations.
Need to consider enduring aspects of behavior…“not one time at bat in baseball but the season’s hitting average, not a evening’s flirtation or adventure but marriage or an enduring relationship.” (A. H. Buss, 1989, University of Texas)
• Thinking• Feeling• Behaving
Allport
• Personality is…• The dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought
More Freud…
Personality Development• Psychosexual stages of
developmentStages Physical
focusPsychological theme
Adult character
Oral stage: Birth - 18 mos.
Mouth, sucking
dependency Dependent/ independent
Anal Stage: 18 mos. - 3.5 yrs
Anus (elimination)
self-control Uptight vs impulsive
Phallic Stage: 3.5 - 6 yrs.
Penis morality and sexuality identification
Amoral vs very rigid morals
Latency Stage: 6 yrs. to puberty
Period of
relative calm Genital stage: post puberty
Genitals Maturity and creation/enhancement of life
Balance of love
and work
Defense Mechanisms
Regression
defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated
Reaction Formation defense mechanism in which the
ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites
people may express feelings that are the opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings
Projection defense mechanism by which people
disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others
Rationalization defense mechanism that offers self-
justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one’s actions
Displacement defense mechanism
that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward another object or person
Sublimation Channeling
unacceptable impulses into constructive behaviors
Skinner’s view of personality• Skinner showed us that reinforcement
contingencies could influence behavior. In fact, Skinner thought personality was essentially the product of a person’s history of reinforcement
Humanistic Perspective
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) focused on growth and fulfillment of
individuals genuineness acceptance empathy
I love you IF…
Carl Rogers’ Personality
Theory
Love the sinner,
hate the sin
Traits• Gordon Allport wrote the influential book,
“Personality” in 1937. He developed his ideas about “traits” viewing these as the basic structural elements of personality.
• Traits were defined as a predisposition to respond in a particular way to a broad range of situations. So an even-tempered person remains calm across a broad range of situations. The situations or stimuli are rendered “functionally equivalent” - opportunities to exercise restraint. Each person has a certain expressive and adaptive style that they bring to the situation.
Big 5 personality test
Extroversion
Extroverted people
• Energetic • Enthusiastic • Dominant • Sociable• Talkative
Introverted people
• Shy• Retiring• Submissive• Quiet
Agreeableness
High Agreeableness
• Friendly• Cooperative• Trusting• Warm
Low Agreeableness
• Cold• Quarrelsome
Conscientiousness
Conscientious• Cautious• Dependable• Organized• Responsible
Impulsive• Careless• Disorderly• Undependable
Neuroticism
Emotionally unstable
• Nervous• High-strung• Tense• Worrying
Emotionally stable
• Calm• Contented
Openness
High on Openness
• Imaginative• Witty• Original• Artistic
Low on Openness
• Down to earth• Conventional• Conformist• Simple
Big Five personality dimensions Openness to Experience(intellect, imagination, curiosity, creativity) Conscientiousness(order, duty, deliberation, self-discipline) Extraversion(sociability, assertiveness, activity, positive emotions) Agreeableness(trust, nurturance, kindness, cooperation) Neuroticism(anxiety, depression, moodiness,vulnerability to stress)
Type and Trait Approaches Describe Behavioral Dispositions
• “Personality Types” are discrete categories into which we place people
• Personality “traits” are dispositional: they predispose persons to behave, think, and feel in enduring patterns across situations
• Type and trait approaches describe but do not explain patterns
Personality Reflects Learning and Cognitive Processes
• Cognitive perspectives include:– Personal constructs:– Expectancies and value:– Beliefs in “locus of control”
Personality Refers to Both Unique and Common Characteristics
• Gordon Allport distinguished two approaches:
– Idiographic approaches are “person centered”
– Nomothetic approaches examine characteristics common to all persons, but on which people vary, and focus on differences between persons
We Can Use Objective and Projective Methods to Assess
Personality• Assessment methods often vary with
theoretical preferences– Psychodynamic theorists like projective
methods more than Trait theorists, who use objective methods
• Objective methods use self-reports• Projective methods purport to tap the
unconscious using ambiguous stimuli
Assessing the Unconscious
Thematic Apperception Test
• Projective Test – Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT)
– Based on Freud’s defense mechanisms (repression, projection)
Animals do have personality & it can be assessed
Personality Is Rooted in Genetics
• Adoption Studies show:
– Adopted siblings are no more alike in personality than randomly selected persons are
– Personalities of adopted children are largely unrelated to their adoptive parents
• Are there specific genes for personality?
Personality Is Rooted in Genetics: Twin Studies
Cortical Arousal Differences
• Eysenck (1967)– He suggests that the difference between
introverts and extroverts depends on the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)•Causes introverts to be “stimulus shy”•Causes extroverts to be “stimulus
hungry”
Eysenck Arousal ExplanationPerf
orm
an
ce
Arousal
Low Moderate High
High
Low
Introverts Extraverts
Why are there personality differences?
• Should natural selection make people more similar?–Random variation
• Frequency dependent selection–Inheritance of alternative strategies
• Group selection?
Personality Test
• http://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/IPIP/ipipneo300.htm
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